Marketing Javahttp://www.marketingjava.com Your Colorado small business marketing agency providing website design, marketing and social media training and supportSat, 26 May 2018 13:20:25 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.830901783A Small Business Owner’s Guide to Facebook Post Types (Part 1)http://www.marketingjava.com/a-small-business-owners-guide-to-facebook-post-types-part-1/ Mon, 13 Mar 2017 17:01:06 +0000http://www.marketingjava.com/?p=5851Getting your business on Facebook can seem a little daunting. There are so many different ways you can post about your business – how do you know what post type is right for you? Get your social media started on the right foot with this quick guide to Facebook Post Types. Share a Photo to […]

]]>Getting your business on Facebook can seem a little daunting. There are so many different ways you can post about your business – how do you know what post type is right for you? Get your social media started on the right foot with this quick guide to Facebook Post Types.

Share a Photo to Facebook

Sharing a photo to Facebook is an old standby, but an incredibly powerful one. If you have been relying purely on sharing links and letting images auto-populate, you may be missing a large portion of your potential audience. Try uploading the image (assuming you have permission) manually, and sharing the link in the post text. Compare the views. If they went up, consider expanding your image library. Here is a great guide to some online tools you can use to make beautiful images for your social networks.

Get Bookings (or other actions) on your Facebook Page

Use a post to get your audience to take a specific action, such as making reservations or calling your business. This post type may be different depending on your call to action. From here, you can promote the action you want your audience to take from your Facebook page. You will be able to upload a custom image, change the headline, edit your link description text, as well as add a compelling post to the top. This post will have a “Book Now!” (or whatever CTA you’re using, such as get phone calls) button at the bottom of the post for your audience to click.

Encourage your Facebook Audience to Message You

Facebook is a great place to have a conversation with your audience. Once again you have the ability to fully customize this free post type. Rather than a book now button, the post features a “Send Message” button. This is a good way to open up a two way conversation with you and your audience, or to prompt questions you know people may have, but haven’t had the time or energy to ask (i.e. how to get to your storefront, what your prices are etc). Make one of these posts and see what kinds of responses you get. You may be able to fill a new FAQ page!

Advertise Your Business

The Advertise your business post! Technically this is an overarching category for 4 different paid options, and 1 free option. These are a shorter way to accomplish the same thing you can accomplish in the Facebook Ad Manager.

We’ll cover the paid options in our next blog post, so for now, let’s look at the share page with friends option. This allows you to suggest to your friends that they should like your page. They will receive a notification prompting them to click like once you send the invitation. We recommend not sharing with everyone on your friends list, but rather only inviting people who you feel will be relevant to your brand, and may share it themselves. Don’t annoy people!

Post an Event at or for your Small Business

If you have an event coming up, you should absolutely make a Facebook event! Have a lot of events you need to advertise, but don’t want to spam your newsfeed? You can now schedule event publish dates! Make sure you have a properly sized event image that looks good on the event page & in the newsfeed. An important thing to note about events – when your page posts in the event, everyone going will get a notification. Use this to build excitement for announcements on the main page & event.

We will be covering more post types in next week’s blog. Let us know in the comment section if you have any questions!

If you need help with your Social Media marketing, Marketing Java is here to listen! We brew up small business online marketing tips, content, and support every day and we’re happy to answer your questions. Drop us a line, or give us a call today for a free consultation and start moving up in Google page-rankings!

The largest advantage your business has over a mega-conglomerate is your ability to form a connection to your local community. Build online communities around your small business and stay social to keep your business in the hearts and minds of residents.

Build online communities around your small business and stay social

The largest advantage your business has over a mega-conglomerate is your ability to form a connection to your local community. Build online communities around your small business and stay social to keep your business in the hearts and minds of residents. Where does your neighborhood get their news from? Is there an online forum for the community? Is there a hashtag or subreddit for your town? People love when they can connect with a business owner or face of a company – so be open to two way conversations about how your business can adapt to local needs, and accept feedback.

Get on Yelp, Trip Advisor and Angie’s List if it applies to you. Check out Moz’s free analysis of your website for local ranking. Tweet about trends happening around your business at least once a day.

Have a monthly newsletter showcasing your small business in the community & offer discounts

Email marketing is a great way to reach your customers – as long as your content interests or benefits them. When you have a monthly newsletter showcasing your small business in the community & offer discounts, you not only get people up to speed on what your company is doing, but you can offer discounts and specials that bring your customers back for more. Plus, a snapshot into your company’s involvement in the community ensures people will stay interested in your local small business. Spend a couple hours making a template to drop your content into each month; there are tons of resources online to help you build your own. Once you’ve got your template ready to go, dedicate 1-2 hours each month to composing your newsletter. A great newsletter includes a discount/deal/special, an event showcase, and a blog post or personal profile. You can add more if you have the content of course, but try to stay below 5 topics. If your email is too long, people won’t read it.

Take a second right now to write down 20 words and/or phrases that relate to your business. We’ll wait. Got em? Good. We’re going to use these words and phrases to implement basic search engine optimization for your business’s website. Search Engine Optimization is another name for SEO. By doing basic SEO, your business’s website will have a leg up on competitors that don’t implement any. Don’t overstuff your webpages with these words, just keep them in mind as you edit your content and add new pages. If you are using WordPress, a great plugin is YOAST, which will give you a grade on each webpage depending on what keyword or phrase you choose for the page. YOAST will also allow you to easily edit the meta-description on your page, which is super important. If you can input a meta-description, you absolutely should! A meta-description is a quick synopsis of your web page that google or other search engines may display in search results. You’ll want to include your keyword for that page, as well as a useful summary of the information found in the page. The meta-description is pictured below the purple headline and green subheading – in the black text.

Write a blog about your business

No one knows your business like you. So, write a blog about your business! Sure blogging takes some time – you will probably need to set aside 2-3 hours per blog, BUT no one is making you do your blog all at once. Throughout the week, jot down blog topics as they come to mind. Write down sub-headings as they come to you as well. When you sit down to write, you’ll have a narrow focus to start from. Then it’s just a matter of fleshing out your topics, and acquiring links to your references. A few tips for making your blog an effective piece for your business – try to aim for 600 words or more, make sure your subheadings reference your business’s keywords when possible. Make sure to stick to a consistent schedule – whether it be once a week, once every two weeks or once a month. Consistently updating your website causes google to crawl your website on a consistent basis, and may improve your google rankings. If you don’t have time to blog yourself, Marketing Java offers a low cost solution to your blogging needs.

Keep your business website up to date

The last and most obvious tip is to always keep your business website up to date. Depending on what your business is about, it may make sense to check through once a month, or once every three months. Make sure you are current on prices, and make edits promptly. A well maintained website looks better to google, and makes sure your customers have an optimal experience with your business online.

If you need help with online marketing tips for your small business, Marketing Java is here to listen! We brew up small business online marketing tips, content, and support every day and we’re happy to answer your questions. Drop us a line, or give us a call today for a free consultation and start moving up in Google page-rankings!

The last time you asked Google where the nearest coffee shop was, a handy map popped up with several listings for you to choose from. But did you know you weren't actually seeing ALL of the coffee shops nearby? Make sure YOUR Google My Business Listing comes up when folks are searching for the type of work you do!

As a small business owner, you have way too much to do, we get it. You’re trying to keep up with Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and you’re not even sure why. Your website content is out of date and needs your attention, and now…. Google wants you to stay “active” on your Google My Business listing – whatever that means!

Why is Google My Business So Important?

You remember the last time you wanted a cup of coffee, but weren’t sure where the nearest coffee shop was? You asked Google where the nearest coffee shop was, and a handy map popped up with several listings for you to choose from. But did you know you weren’t actually seeing ALL of the coffee shops nearby? Those little A,B,C pins that pop up on the map only represent a portion of the possible choices you have. Google sent you to the closest coffee shop that had a Google My Business listing and was taking good care of it. Some listings do get included that aren’t being well managed, but the point here is that if yours IS well managed and your are nearby, not only will you be listed in the search return, but the effort you have put into describing your offering properly, and inviting the prospective customer to take a look at what you do will pay off – they will see you, and they will choose you.

You Don’t Need a Storefront to be Found

Marketing Java is an online business – we have no physical address that customers visit to learn more about our services. If you have no physical address, that’s okay. You don’t need a storefront to be found, but you still need a Google My Business listing if people are searching for the type of work you do in your community. If you ARE displaying a physical address (like your home, if you’re a home based business) even though you don’t have a storefront, you need to hide it. You don’t need a picture of your driveway displayed every time someone searches for your business on Google.

If you don’t have time, don’t know how, or aren’t tech savvy, assign a manager who can add images, tell stories, and respond to Google Reviews (this is REALLY important) for your Google My Business listing. Don’t know who to ask? Marketing Java would be my top choice! We are affordable, we’ve helped dozens of clients in Boulder, Colorado, and manage listings for clients all over the U.S.

How To Add a Google My Business Manager

Use the gmail account that is affiliated with your listing ( …@gmail.com ) to login in at business.google.com. If you don’t know the address that was used, contact Google and they can help you recover your listing.

Once you login, you will see your business name in the top left corner, and three dashes – click those, then select Manager Users from the menu that pops up:

A pop up will appear, and you can add new users to your Google My Business listing:

Next, you will add the email address of the person/people you want to manage your account, and click INVITE.

You should be the primary owner. If you’re not, add yourself as an owner and later, you can make yourself the primary owner. You can add a Google My Business Manager, or Google My Business Communications Manager, depending on what you want this person to do for you.

Which Google My Business Role Should You Assign?

You will have to decide which Google My Business role to assign. If you’re adding someone who is going to help get your listing up to snuff, make him/her a Manager. If your just adding someone to help add content, and keep your listing “active” per Google, choose Communications Manager.

Yay! You did it!! Once you click INVITE, your new helper will be notified and can begin work on your Google My Business listing. If you need help with your Google My Business listing, Marketing Java is here for you! We brew up small business online marketing tips, content, and support every day and we’re happy to answer your questions. Drop us a line, or give us a call today for a free consultation and start moving up in Google page-rankings!

Once your WordPress site is set up and rolling, the job isn’t done. Keeping a website current and safe from intruders requires web masters to continue to update WordPress. It may seem like extra work – after all your website currently does what you need it to, but applying updates is vital to keeping you […]

Once your WordPress site is set up and rolling, the job isn’t done. Keeping a website current and safe from intruders requires web masters to continue to update WordPress. It may seem like extra work – after all your website currently does what you need it to, but applying updates is vital to keeping you safe from security issues, plugins not being compatible, and gives you access to new features. Here are 3 reasons why your business needs to stay current with WordPress updates.

You’ll get the latest security patches and fixes

No one thinks they will get hacked, but It is estimated that nearly 30,000 websites are infected with some type of malware each and every day. The latest security patches and fixes help cover the holes in the backend of your WordPress website that hackers can exploit. While you can do your part to keep your website safe by always using a unique complex password, sometimes hackers and malicious programs are able to exploit security holes in software. As time goes on, chances are that a new program will be created or a backdoor will be discovered that allow malicious entities to gain access to your website. That’s where security patches come in.

According to WordPress, “WordPress versions 4.6 and earlier are affected by two security issues: a cross-site scripting vulnerability via image filename, reported by SumOfPwn researcher Cengiz Han Sahin; and a path traversal vulnerability in the upgrade package uploader, reported by Dominik Schilling from the WordPress security team.” The 4.6.1 update provides a fix for these security issues.

Your website will get sweet new features!

You’ve seen the ancient flash websites frequently used by dog breeders that have never been updated. If only they knew all of the sweet new features they could use if they just updated their website! The latest large update (“>WordPress 4.6 “Pepper”) implemented 3 new features that makes keeping up with your website much easier. You no longer have to leave the page you’re on to update your plugins, WordPress uses the native fonts on your computer to reduce load times, you won’t lose edits if you accidentally click away from where you are editing before saving, and wordpress will check to make sure you don’t accidentally link to the default link.

Updating Will Help Prevent Compatibility Issues with Plugins

Keeping your WordPress up to date will help prevent compatibility issues with plugins you may want to install. This is a sort of double-edged sword however. While good plugin developers will work quickly to make sure their plugin is updated to be compatible with the latest WordPress version, some plugins do lose support over time and will get weird bugs with new updates. HOWEVER! As you move forward and find new plugins, they will tend to be compatible with the latest versions of WordPress, and may be completely unusable with outdated versions. This can be a good way to find which plugins you need to find substitutes for, as an outdated plugin can also provide opportunities for malicious attacks.

Marketing Java can Help!

Perhaps the most important reason for regular maintenance of your site is to help minimize the issues of security breaches and software/plugin failure. Because your site’s software and security patches are applied in a timely manner, any anomalies are addressed regularly, rather than when the site is in jeopardy, or worse, disabled completely by the host. Important: Breached sites are often shut down because hosts do not want to risk the spread of such issues to other sites that might reside on your host’s servers.

If you need monthly WordPress maintenance, Marketing Java is here to listen! We brew up small business online marketing tips, content, and support every day and we’re happy to answer your questions. Drop us a line, or give us a call today for a free consultation and start moving up in Google page-rankings!

Are you showing up on page 10 of google searches for your business name? How often do you update your website content? If you don’t keep your website fresh with new content, google may be penalizing you and moving your website to the bottom of search results!

To help you get seen on Google, here are 5 ideas of where you can get fresh information for your website, most of it, information you already have on hand!

Answer questions your customers are asking Google about your business on your website

Do you have a FAQ page on your website already? Get your thinking cap on and clear your mind. Put yourself in your client’s shoes. As someone needing your services, what are the first ten questions that come to mind? Type up the questions your customers are asking google about your business for your website’s FAQ. Stay away from industry jargon – they probably aren’t asking about vertical integration or synergy, but they may want to know your business hours, the basics of what your business offers better than others, and how to get started with you.

Write out the questions as you think someone would ask google. Then answer them! Test your logic by typing the questions you come up with in the Google search bar. Does Google finish the question for you? Try to use the search phrases people are using on Google. As you talk with more customers and get their questions, add them to the FAQ page. By doing this, you keep the website updates flowing, and you provide google with exactly what they want for their searchers – clear concise answers to questions real people ask.

Offer special deals from your business to visitors on your website

If you already have discounts available to customers, why not post them on your website? It only takes a moment of tweaking to offer special deals from your business to visitors on your website each month. A great example of this is one of our clients, Rubbish Works Denver, that posts monthly deals on their trash hauling service. When a customer clicks the ad, they are taken to the new content for the current special. Their website stays fresh, they maintain traffic to their site, and customers have a positive interaction with their online face which may lead to more reviews and interaction.

Have an event coming up? Don’t keep quiet about it! Promote your business’s monthly events and get-togethers on your website! Hosting an event is a great way to create a two way conversation with your clientele. You can find out what need drove them to your business, and adapt your marketing towards people like them. Not only can you learn more about your customer, but you can provide them with a face they can trust to handle their business, and build brand loyalty. Can’t meet face-to-face? Offer customers a chance to hang out with you online, see a new product unboxed, or chat about an offering. Skype, Google Hangouts, and Facebook live are all good (and free!) options for live streaming.

Hosting events is great for your local community, and will help your website stay fresh when you post updates about them. An update about an event doesn’t just stop at the initial promotion of the event either. Once the event is done, you can post a summary, inspirational quotes, and great photos and videos from the event to let future attendees know why they should not miss the next event. Event postings show new customers the types of things they can get for being a part of your family, and can improve your overall business if you take the time to listen. Plus, the added images and video will score points for your website’s page rank!

Post testimonials from real life clients. Use words from real life people to make your website shine

People are more likely to purchase items from businesses their friends recommend. If you have a glowing review on Yelp, Facebook, or a comment card, why not include it on your website? Post testimonials from real life clients on your website. Make sure to attribute the quotes to their owners, and ask permission if the review isn’t already in a public forum (i.e. a comment card). Your website gets a boost from the regular updates, and you get a chance to toot your own horn and show future prospects what current customers are raving about. Some people may even be encouraged to leave you a sparkling review to get listed.

Create an expert blog on your website for new customers & google searchers

You’re an expert in your field. You know the ins and outs of your business and you know what you wish more people knew. Put that knowledge to good use and create an expert blog on your website for new customers & google searchers. Blogs are probably the most difficult part of this list – and should only be pursued if you have a solid plan (or awesome bloggers to assist you in your message), It’s important to make regular additions to your blog much like a social media network so you don’t look like you’re slacking. Beyond that, blogs should focus around the keywords and phrases you want your business to be found for. Blogs are a powerful tool to spread your message, and move up in google rankings.

Are you ready to get seen on google when you update your website content using these 5 strategies? Marketing Java is here to help get you started with blog options, website updates, social media promotions and more.

If you need blogging, a new website, or social media, Marketing Java is here to listen! We brew up small business online marketing tips, content, and support every day and we’re happy to answer your questions. Drop us a line, or give us a call today for a free consultation and start moving up in Google page-rankings!

Talking with a local merchant today, I asked, “Are you on Twitter?” She blushed a little, then replied, “No, me and my business partner are just too busy running this place to keep up with stuff like that. But we do other marketing, like sending out emails.”

Small Business Owners, New Customers, and Email Marketing

On the counter, certainly out of eye-shot of the usual customer, was an “email sign up sheet”, curled pages and all. Even the general observer would be able to tell this thing was,

Not being shared with every potential customer,

Not not being added to an actual database

Not being used to grow new customers or connect with existing ones

Some business owners are more than a little frustrated just trying to keep up on their email marketing, forget about adding a new marketing task to what is typically an otherwise nutso day. I get it – but then again, I don’t get it. These same entrepreneurs waste time every day on tasks that bring them no closer to their customers, and some tasks that should be abandoned altogether. You may have strong customer service, and an excellent offer, but it won’t matter for long if your customer outreach is weak. So, how can you possibly fit more social media, optimized blog content, paid advertising, or inbound marketing into your day if you can’t even keep up with the emails that should be going out to your contacts? First, let’s dispel any reasoning for not using social media to grow your small business, and moreover, let’s look at some reasons why you should embark now. When you’ve woven together a routine that includes a little content creation and outreach, you’ll weave a wonderful new way to reach out and warm your current and future customers.

Web-Based Small Business Marketing Must-Haves

Email Marketing

There are applications galore to help small businesses run more efficiently and easily, yet many still cling to the old way of doing things. One of the centerpieces of any small business marketing plan is your email marketing software. At Marketing Java, we use MailChimp and Constant Contact, both of which can help with small business growth. With a few clicks, you can brand your outgoing messages, keep track of people that want your offers, see who clicked what, and then… do it all over again. You can even automate certain types of content and send it to specific segments of your lists! The beauty of an email marketing program today is how easy it is to create and automate, but there’s more: your campaigns are both email and web-based, they can be shared easily on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites that work well for your business, and they can be forwarded to friends. Email marketing is a powerful marketing tool for a small business owner with limited time! If you really don’t have the time, consider finding a skilled small business marketing agency to help you produce your content and contact your customers each month. It might be more affordable than you think!

Information and Document Storage

There are a lot of documents a small business has to keep track of; order forms,pricing lists, customer databases, agreements, checklists, the latest idea for a cool flyer that’s being bounced around… whatever. Never allow a single computer to be the only place your team can find documents or information needed to run your business. Move documents that everyone needs, or that you’d like people to collaborate on into a place like the G Suite Cloud (which incidentally has a LOT of great Google tools) and your team can communicate, store, collaborate and manage content relevant to running your small business. When content is created for your newsletter, it will be handy to reach into the cloud and use it for this week’s social media posts! Collaborative environments provide a real boost to the creative process and the availability of content for your social sharing.

Hire Your Own Website Hosting

I can’t stress this enough: if you have a website and/or a blog, please…please…please – host it through an account you purchase, not through a reseller. Why? You’ll have access to all your stats, you’ll get the benefit of all the traffic to YOUR content, and you’ll control the ownership of your domain and all of your content. Still using the email address “someone@aol.com” or “joeblow@comcast.com”? Really?! If you requested information from a small business and the reply came from joeblow@comcast.net, would you have second thoughts about the credibility of the source? Isn’t it also time you began promoting your own brand instead of the tech giants of the world? With your own hosting, you can brand all your email accounts and domains and have them all pointing and raising up your brand. If this isn’t your area of expertise, hire a tech geek to help you set up an account with a hosting service. It’s that important. And one more thing about choosing a hosting company: cheap doesn’t always mean good, so really check reviews. Look for hosting companies like SiteGround with terrific uptime, great pricing, excellent back end tools, and humans answering the phone 24/7.

Twitter, or Facebook, or Instagram?

You knew I’d get to these, right? But don’t assume because a social media site is big, it’s the right one for your business model. Depending on your niche, you will want to choose your social media sites based on where your demographic is playing right now. Your customers are using these free social media spaces every day to share, compare, tell, promote, bash, praise, and recommend, but which one they are varies according to a dozen different factors. Whether this kind of interaction suits you or not is really not the point: the question is, does it suit your customer? Than you should be there. Setting the accounts up is pretty simple. A smart teen can help you do it, and a good blog post can give you the particulars on image size, post length recommendations, expected content types, etc. Make sure you have your brand and contact info in your profile. Then what? Conversation. Talking. Not advertising (although sometimes making an offer or tooting your own horn is alright), but talking, building trust between you and your customers. Great things going on in your city? Share it. Tell people about fab deals other businesses have. I recommend a 1/5 ratio – 5 things about others, 1 thing about you. Then put up specials of your own occasionally – “web only” deals, “secret word” deals, have fun. Repeat – have fun. If authentic people and businesses connect with you, connect back. You never know who could be your next customer.

Stitch Your Small Business Outreach Together

You’re now equipped with a great starter set of tools, so stitch them to each other:

Promote your social media places on your website or blog, your email signature, your marketing pieces, in your store or office, and in all your other social media spaces. Let your customers know you’re out there and want to talk!

Schedule time each day to work on your social media channels and content for your upcoming email marketing. If you have a blog (and you should!), try to have content for it as often as you can muster – but never let an entire month go by without making a keyword optimized post that answers the kinds of questions your customers are asking.

For all these efforts, start small, say 15 minutes a day. Put it on your calendar and actually commit time to do your marketing tasks. Don’t try to fit in half a day on Fridays – it’s not going to happen.

Use tools to manage things more easily: All free, check into Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, and Buffer. These applications will make managing things just a little more streamlined.

Treat this marketing effort with the importance it deserves – if your products and services don’t reach your market, you won’t have any sales.

Taking this different approach, you will find that your marketing costs actually go down, while your customer connectivity goes up. For time, if you’re keeping to a schedule, you’ll find this effort will blend nicely with your day. Another terrific side effect? This kind of contact is the base component to building loyalty, because while your competition is busy coming up with the next great postcard, you’re busy talking directly to your customers about what they want from you. There is no replacement for direct communication with your customer and if they let you in that space, you have woven your business into your customer’s tapestry of trust and communication.

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Thousands of people shop for their new iPhone using their old iPhone. Teenagers walk around like zombies chasing virtual creatures they can only see on their smart phones. More and more people are browsing the internet, making purchases, and interacting with the world on mobile device. Make sure you are not missing out on valuable customers who can’t find you online because you haven’t upgraded to a mobile responsive website. If you haven’t been convinced yet, here are 5 reasons you MUST have a mobile responsive website in 2016.

Mobile Responsiveness Ranks Higher

In April of 2015, Google began including mobile responsiveness as a marker for Search Engine Return Page (SERP) rank. According to google, the reasoning for this is “Users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results optimized for their devices.” Websites that have a mobile friendly view rank higher in google searches. In less than 5 minutes, you can check your website to see if it qualifies as mobile-friendly with Google’s free Mobile-Friendly test. If you don’t pass the mobile-friendly test, you should seriously consider replacing or at least updating your current website.

In essence, Google now gives “extra points” to websites that adapt to whatever size screen they are on, and dings websites with static page sizes. If your small business has a website that isn’t responsive to the size of screen it is displayed on, it will be harder for your customers to find you when they search for your products or services. To put this in perspective, think about how often you look beyond the first few items listed when you perform a search. The answer is probably ‘not very often’, and the same can be said of most google users. The bottom line is, the higher you rank on Google, the more eyes see your business, the more sales you get.

You are losing sales if you’re not Mobile Responsive – Up to 25% of sales are happening on mobile devices

With one-click purchasing on amazon, and mobile ordering for Starbucks, your customers are beginning to expect to be able to conduct their business with you online, and sales on mobile devices have never been higher. If your website is not mobile responsive, you could be missing out on valuable sales. According to mobile e-commerce research, 2016 is expected to see 25% of all sales come from mobile devices. Increasingly, customers are making purchases on the same device they are doing research on, which is overwhelmingly, their smart phones. Making online shopping easy reduces the amount of time it takes for a customer to recognize they have a need, do the research and make their purchase.

If your website is not mobile friendly, you may be frustrating your customers – 94% access the web from a mobile device

In the USA, 94% of people with smartphones search for local information on their phones. Interestingly, 77% of mobile searches occur at home or at work, places where desktop computers are likely to be present. This indicates a possible preference for searching on a mobile device. If you’ve ever wanted to make a purchase on the go and run into a website that wasn’t mobile friendly, you’ve probably experienced the frustration of having to zoom way into to hit that tiny purchase button. Take a moment right now to search for your small business on a phone or tablet. Did you like the results? Would you be frustrated using your website? Every part of the experience you provide to your sales prospects should be the best possible experience, and people are likely to click away if they find your website difficult to work with.

You can’t afford not to have a mobile friendly website

In a recent workshop on eCommerce Website Essentials, one small business owner admitted that she lost 30% of her website traffic when she failed to convert to a mobile friendly website in 2014. She is only just now getting her website updated, and has lost thousands of dollars in sales in the interim. Can you afford to miss out on sales due to your outdated website?

With data that only adds salt to her wounds, Huffington Post reports, “research shows that 57 percent of mobile users will abandon your website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load and 30 percent will abandon a purchase transaction if the shopping cart isn’t optimized for mobile devices.” Load time is another issue older websites often face on mobile devices.

You can afford to have a new mobile responsive site built

Marketing Java provides affordable options to get you started with your new mobile responsive site. All of our website options include mobile-friendly design. Creating a feature-rich and convenient experience for your customers is key to setting your website apart from your competition. Premium functions like online commerce, membership, scheduling tools, and even customer downloads of your digital products are some of our specialties, and can be included into projects of any size.

If you need help creating a new, mobile responsive website to boost your sales and give a memorable and pleasing experience to all of your visitors, Marketing Java is here to listen! We brew up small business online marketing tips, content, and support every day and we’re happy to answer your questions. Drop us a line, or give us a call today for a free consultation and start moving up in Google page-rankings!

This isnt a long list, I know it can get overwhelming, constantly learning that theres one more thing you really should be doing. This one thing, though, should feel good. Talk to a customer – I dont mean brainstorm branded email content that reaches your demographic – I mean talk to someone. An actual human […]

This isnt a long list, I know it can get overwhelming, constantly learning that theres one more thing you really should be doing. This one thing, though, should feel good.

Talk to a customer – I dont mean brainstorm branded email content that reaches your demographic – I mean talk to someone. An actual human conversation. You can even pick someone you like and who you know likes you. Do it right now, it will only take a few minutes. Don’t know what to say? Think about the challenges he or she might be facing and consider what you can do to help. If you dont like talking on the phone, send an email – an actual email from you that isn’t about the segment or demographic your customer falls into, but is about the actual person you are talking to.

If you find you have no idea what to say, it’s because you havent been paying attention. Take a look at the customer – visit her website, think about the work shes doing and why she does it. Somewhere in there is the person you could be having a conversation with. If you haven’t done your homework, your overtures could be ignored or even awkward. So, do your homework.

Heres why: Think about the last time you walked into a room where there was a baby who grinned as soon as he saw you, and put his arms up to be held. How did that happen? Because you took the time to coo at him, take care of him, and make sure he had what he needed. When he saw you, he recognized you as someone who cares. I’m not saying your customers are babies, I’m saying care. Notice your customers and what they need, and then, you will have something to talk to them about. And you will have the power to a difference instead of a dollar.

]]>5564Which Social Media Channels Are Wrong for Your Small Business and Whyhttp://www.marketingjava.com/which-social-media-channels-are-wrong-for-your-small-business-and-why/ Wed, 14 Sep 2016 18:15:42 +0000http://www.marketingjava.com/?p=5542It’s never easy to manage Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, but why not make it easier on yourself by choosing the right social media accounts for your small business. Some social media channels are wrong for your small business. Knowing which ones to avoid means you wont have to try to manage manage multiple accounts […]

]]>It’s never easy to manage Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, but why not make it easier on yourself by choosing the right social media accounts for your small business. Some social media channels are wrong for your small business. Knowing which ones to avoid means you wont have to try to manage manage multiple accounts that don’t fit your needs or customer demographic and therefore don’t return any value to your business.

Does Your Small Business Come Here Often?

I promise we will jump into the various social media platforms in just a moment, but before we do, please take a long, hard look at your calendar and decide in advance if you even have time for social media marketing? At Marketing Java, when we take over publishing for a businesses social media accounts, it has typically been more than a year since the account last had new content published. When people do find you on social media, you never, ever want to the post they see to reference something that happened a year ago! If you can’t make the time to post at least once a week, you either need to pay an agency or an employee to make the posts for you, or you need to focus on some other channel for your marketing. If your small business can’t find a way show up on a social media platform often and consistently, then don’t set up the account to begin with.

What is Your Marketing Goal?

Marketing is not the same as sales – sales is a quantifiable transaction that you measure in dollars – marketing is the messaging you do to reach your market. Your market consists of current customers, past customers, and prospective customers. Some of your marketing efforts are designed to retain the customers you have, some help you reach back out to former customers and get them excited about doing business with you again, and some marketing activities help you reach brand new customers who have never done business with you, but might, if they like what they see. Before you sign up for Twitter, you need to know if your tweets will help you with your past, current, and prospective customers – and you have to know what your marketing goal is if you are going to reach it.

Who Do You Love?

You probably have a good idea about who your customer is, or who you wish your customer was. According to blogger Mike Ciota, there are some questions you need to ask yourself about your customers before choosing a social media account:

Business or consumers?

For consumers;

Male or female?

Younger or older?

For Business and Consumers:

Service or Product?

For product;

leisure or business?

These labels will help you use the list below to more easily locate the demographic your are seeking on a specific social media channel.

Who Loves You?

One of the hardest parts about being a small business is knowing what you are and what you aren’t. Comparing yourself to the competition can be both helpful and heartbreaking. When you seek to build a presence on social media, it is critical that you know who your demographic is (for real, not just who you wish or hope or think they are) and what channel to find them on. Breaking social media demographic and business related purpose down by channel, from largest to smallest, looks something like this:

Facebook

Consumers aged 25-54, mostly female. Why socialize here? To stay connected to your current customer, to the extent the Facebook even allows folks who have liked your page to see your posts. You will gain some exposure and brand recognition here, but you are unlikely to create new customers (meaning a click thru to purchase) on Facebook unless you advertise with them, which might not be a bad idea.

YouTube

Consumers and B2B, all ages. Why socialize here? Definitely NOT to generate a direct sale. YouTube conversions are nearly impossible to get, even if you promise a free, new, funny cat video every week. If you have the resources (time, money, and skill set) to produce your own video, what you might be able to gain is some love from someone who is trying to learn how to do something, but the competition is fierce and we’re talking about an awful lot of content in order to appear credible. You can also post before and after content and testimonials on your YouTube channel if you offer a service and can wow your demographic with moving pictures, but it is still resource intensive and difficult to get enough content on your channel to impress the masses.

Twitter

Consumers and B2B aged 18-29. Why socialize here? Once again, NOT to generate any “clicks to purchase.” Twitter can help with your public relations and the general perception of what you are all about, but you have to be SO consistent and frequent with your messaging, and for at least a little while longer, you have to get your message across in 140 characters or less. This adds up to an endeavor that is pretty labor intensive. Oh! And you will need properly sized images; tweets with images do much better than those without. You can build a reputation as the go to guy or gal for your product or service, but it’s going to take time, focus, and a playing field that has room for you.

LinkedIn

B2B aged 30-49. Why socialize here? If you are a B2B firm, this is a good place for you to reach the 30-49 year old decision makers. How? You can blog there – which is something you should be doing on your website anyway. Just make sure you blog has a good call to action and that your offer inspires readers to contact you or submit a request for contact to you. If you are going to blog there, you will need to take the time to get your business profile [ https://www.linkedin.com/company/2332192? ], not just your personal profile, set up on LinkedIn .

Google Plus

Consumers and B2B aged 25-34, male. Why socialize here? Maybe you don’t need to be where the tech savvy boys are? Wait! Regardless of who is seeing what you share on Google Plus, and how you might hope to dazzle them, you absolutely must keep your Google Plus and Google My Business content fresh and frequent (explaining the relationship between G+ and GMB will take another blog post – think of them as a married couple). Why? Well, duh… because it’s Google! There are strong indications that a healthy G+ presence will help boost your rankings on Google.

Instagram

I’m going to say consumers aged 18-29. Why socialize here? This is a tough one – you can’t get any clicks to specific content, so the call to action is sort of a bust. People can go to your profile and find a link there, which you can change as often as you like… but do you know any 18-29 year old who is willing to scroll back up and click on a link, even if they like the pic you posted? When I as posting for a college on Instagram, my intent was to provide images to prospective students that allowed them to see themselves at the school, and to be excited about the potential of attending. I’m not sure if I was successful or not. I like Instagram and have run a successful community building campaign there, but I don’t see the value to a for profit business beyond building awareness and generating leads (if they scroll up or find you elsewhere as a result of having seen your Instagram page). I’m not saying there’s not a good business application out there, I’m just saying I don’t know what it is yet. Your comments on this topic are welcome!

Pinterest

Consumers aged 18-35, female. Why socialize here? Similar to Instagram in many ways, Pinterest offers a younger, narrow demographic focused on seeing what there is to see. Unlike Instagram, however, there is a way to peddle your products (but not really your services…) and you can pay to promote your posts – which could be a good idea if the demographic is an excellent fit. I don’t pay to promote posts for Marketing Java, and I don’t use Pinterest for anything other than compiling information that may be of interest or of use to my customer and colleague community (there are way to many pins about cats and coffee in there!). In the community building sense, Pinterest is more like Facebook than Instagram, but you have to keep in mind that the demographic you are seeking may not be there either way you approach your content.

As a small business owner, it’s challenging just keeping in touch with your customers. If social media helps you to generate a warm fuzzy feeling in the heart of your current customer, then use it. And if you can tell it is helping you generate a new customer base, by all means, post away! But it is never easy to manage social media accounts, and to stay abreast of all of the changes in audience expectations and channel rules, but you really can make it easier on yourself by learning which social media channels are wrong for your small business and why. If you have questions about your specific situation, you know we’d love to talk to you! Marketing Java offers a free 30 minute consultation to new customers by phone, or if you prefer, you can submit a form with your question.